This invention relates generally to the field of mailing machines, and more particularly to mailing machines that are utilized to process permit mail.
There are currently several methods of paying the postal service for collecting, sorting and distributing mail. For example, mailers may pay the post office for services provided by purchasing a stamp, i.e. a printed adhesive label, issued by the post office at specified prices, that is affixed to the mailpiece to show prepayment of postage. The placing of one or more stamps on a mailpiece can be labor intensive, however, especially for mailers having large volumes of mail.
Postage meters may also be used to pay for postage. A mailer may rent a postage meter from a private company that supplies postage meters, and may purchase postage from the post office that is loaded into the postage meter. As the postage meter is used to print meter stamps (also referred to as indicia) on mailpieces, corresponding amounts of postage funds are deducted from the amount stored in the postage meter.
Another method for paying for postal services is by permit mail. Permit mail is especially suited for mailers that have large volumes of mail. With permit mail, instead of using stamps or meter indicia, each mailpiece bears a permit imprint, sometimes also known as an indicia. The permit mail is brought to a postal induction site, referred to by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a Bulk Mail Entry Unit (BMEU), by the mailer or an agent of the mailer. The mailer also prepares forms indicating the number of mailpieces in the mailing and the amount of postage estimated to be due. For manifest mail, a sampling of the mailing is performed at the induction site for comparison with the manifest provided by the mailer to determine the accuracy of the estimates made by the mailer. The postage due is calculated or verified by the postal authority and the mailer makes payment for the mailing, e.g., by check or by charging a deposit account maintained with the postal authority.
In some cases the permit imprint on the mailpieces is provided by preprinting the envelopes with the permit imprint. In other cases, mailing equipment such as a mailing machine prints the permit imprint on the mailpieces at the time a batch of mail is processed. In the latter case, data which represents the imprint image is stored in a memory of the mailing machine. According to known practices, the image data is composed by a supplier of the mailing machine on the basis of information supplied by the mailer. The image data is then loaded into the mailing machine by storing the image data in a memory card at the supplier's facility, sending the memory card to the location of the mailing machine, and interfacing the memory card to the mailing machine so that the mailing machine can read the image data from the memory card.
The technique for loading permit mail imprint image data into a mailing machine may involve considerable inconvenience for the mailer, as well as delay in equipping the mailing machine to commence permit mail operations after granting of a mailing permit by the postal authority.